Mine cars

ABSTRACT

A mine car of a generally rectangular form of which the bottom can swing open to enable the car to discharge its contents. The wheels of the mine car are attached to the swingable bottom and the rear wheel assembly has an axle arrangement such that the rear wheels can straddle a guide rail which serves to maintain the open bottom in the desired position.

United States Patent 72 I inventor Fred Greenwood Tingley, Morley,England [21 Appl. No. 867,550

[22] Filed Oct. 20, 1969 [45] Patented Nov. 16, 1971 [73] AssigneeRobert Hudson Limited Leeds, York, England [32] Priority Oct. 22, 1968{3 3] Great Britain [54] MINE CARS 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

[52] u.s.c| 214/63, 1o5/241c, 105/308 51 mu B6ld7/30 [50] Field olSearch214/58,62, 62 A, 63; [05/241, 241 C, 224, 260, 308

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 990,380 4/l9ll 0rd 2 l 4/632,675,135 4/l 954 Sanford 214/58 Primary Examiner- Robert G. SheridanAttorney-Abraham A. Saffitz ABSTRACT: A mine car of a generallyrectangular form of which the bottom can swing open to enable the car todischarge its contents. The wheels of the mine car are attached to theswingable bottom and the rear wheel assembly has an axle arrangementsuch that the rear wheels can straddle a guide rail which serves tomaintain the open bottom in the desired position.

MINE CARS This invention relates to a rail car which is for use in minesand which is of the type having a bottom which can be opened to allowthe contents of the car to be discharged therethrough. The bottom ishinged to the remainder of the car and has a rolling element guide whichis for engaging a guide rail means when the bottom is opened as the cartravels over a dumping station. The car of course is provided with railwheels to enable same to run on mine rails. Such a rail car will bereferred to hereinafter and in the appended claims as a rail car of thetype aforesaid."

As cars of the type aforesaid have to operate in mines i.e., placeswhere space is restricted, it is desirable that the overall height toenable the car to dump efficiently should be as small as possible.

An object of the present invention is to provide a mine car which canoperate in a mine in a restricted area so that the length of guide railand the excavation required at the dumping station can be reduced.

According to the present invention there is provided a rail car of thetype aforesaid wherein the bottom is hinged at one end of the car andthe rolling element guide is mounted at the other end, and when thebottom is closed, the rolling element guide is located above the railwheels, and at least the rear pair of rail wheels is mounted or arrangedso that the guide rail means can pass between and intersect the axis ofthe or each pair of rail wheels.

As the guide rail means can pass between at least the rear pair of railwheels this enables at least the rear pair of wheels to straddle theguide rail means, and the length of the guide rail means at the dumpingsection can be made shorter and the inclined sections thereof steeperthan previously.

Preferably, the front and rear pairs of rail wheels are arranged ormounted so that the guide rail means can pass between each pair of railwheels and intersect the axis of each pair of wheels.

The mine car may have four rail wheels, a front pair and a rear pair.

The car preferably has a holding catch which holds the bottom closed,but which can be released by a release means adapted to cooperate with aramp means appropriately positioned in relation to the mine rails aheadof the dumping station so that the holding catch is released to allowthe bottom to open as the car travels forwardly over the dumpingstation, whereas the holding catch is not released when the car travelsrearwardly over the dumping station.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example,with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:-

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side view of several mine cars of the typeaforesaid in position as they travel over a dumping station;

FIG. IA is an end view of plinths on which the cars are supported asthey travel over the dumping station;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the chassis of one of the mine cars shown inFIG. I; and

FIG. 3 is a side view of the holding catch, release means and ramp forthe automatic release of the bottom of each car.

Referring firstly to FIG. 1, a dumping station in a mine comprises acavity into which the contents of mine cars 12 of the type aforesaid aredischarged. Located above the cavity 10 is a V-shaped guide rail 14 andabove the guide rail 14 and on each side thereof are concrete plinths 16(FIG. 1A) on which are rotatably mounted a plurality of support rollers18 which support the mine cars 12 as they travel over the cavity in thedirection of arrows 20, 22, by engaging support tracks 19 on each sideof each car 12.

Each car 12 is an open topped container 24 having a bottom 26 theretowhich is hinged at to the front end of the conminer and at the rear endand which carries a rotatable guide wheel 28 which engages the guiderail 14 as the car travels over the dumping station in the direction ofarrow 20. During this movement the bottom 26 of the car opens undergravity as shown in the middle car in FIG. I, and the contents of thecar 12 are dumped into the cavity 10.

Each car 12 has four rail wheels, a front pair 30, and a rear pair 32and each pair is mounted on an axle 34 (see FIGJ2), which is crankedupwardly at 36 to enable the rail 14 to pass between each pair of railwheels 30, 32 and intersect the axes of said pairs of wheels 30, 32.This enables the pairs of wheels 30, 32 to straddle" the rail 14 asshown in FIG. 2 and the overall height required for efficient operationof the car 12 is reduced. This enables the length of rail 14 to bereduced and also lessens the amount of excavation required to producecavity 10.

The bottom 26 of each car 12 is held in the closed position by a holdingcatch which is automatically released by engagement of a release memberand a ramp to enable the car 12 to dump its contents as it travels overthe dumping station in the forwards direction. The arrangement is suchthat when the car travels in a rearwards direction (arrow 22) over thedumping station the catch is not released.

Details of the catch arrangement are shown in FIG. 3.

At the rear end the bottom 26 is provided with a catch rod 38 while theadjacent part of the car body has a pivotable catch arm 40 which hooksround rod 38 to hold the bottom of the car closed. A pivotable releasearm 42 carrying a follower roller element 44 is positioned at each sideof the car body and is operatively connected to the catch arm 40 througha spring 45, the arrangement being that if the release am 42 is pivotedanticlockwise in FIG. 3 to position A," the arm 40 is released from therod 38 so that the bottom of the car can open, but if the arm 42 ispivoted clockwise in FIG. 3 to position B," then the arm 42 is simplydeflected against the action of spring 45 andlthe catch arm 40 maintainsits engagement with rod 30. The arm 42 may operate under gravity insteadof being spring urged.

In operation, the release arms 42 are deflected automatically by ramp 46positioned one at each side of cavity 10 and at the forward end thereof.These ramps, shown clearly in FIGS. 1 and 1A, may be fixed in relationto the mine rails 48 or may be adjustable relative thereto to vary theposition at which the catch may be released.

The operation of the arrangement is described as follows. Assuming thecars 12, or a single car 12, to be travelling in the spaced mine rails48 in the direction of arrow 20 towards the dumping station. Where therails 48 terminate, the car 12 moves onto support rollers 18 and theholding catch arm 40 is released from rod 38 as above described byengagement of ramps 46 by rollers 44. On continued movement over thecavity 10, the car bottom 26 opens under gravity in that it swings aboutpivot 25 with its guide wheels running in the guide rail 14 which liesmidway between rails 48. The bottom 26 again closes after the contentsof the car 12 have been discharge therethrough, as the car 12 travels tothe end of the cavity and the car runs onto the guide rails 48. Thecatch arm also automatically hooks onto the rod 38 and holds the bottomof the car closed. The car bottom does not open when the car travels inthe reverse direction over the cavity 10 because the release arms 42 forthe catch are displaced by the ramp 46 in a clockwise direction in FIG.3.

A further advantage of the invention arising from the fact that thelength of guide rail and hence dumping station is maintained at aminimum, is that the tractive vehicle pulling the cars has greatercontrol because of the shorter distance and hence shorter time thevehicle has to travel without tractive effort being obtained through thedriving wheels. Also, the speed of the vehicle at entry to the dumpingstation can be reduced and the vehicle will still travel freely over thedumping station. The guide rail can be made of lighter construction andcan if so constructed, be installed easier.

The provision of the holding catch means which is released when the cartravels in one direction only provides the considerable advantage thatthe cars can be shunted back and forth over a limited length of track,and they do not, as previously, have to journey round a loop in order tobe emptied.

Modifications of the above described arrangement may be made; forexample the rail wheel axles, instead of being cranked, as shown, may beshort stub axles between which the rail 14 can pass and also, it may notbe necessary that the rail [4 should pass between the front pair of railwheels and intersect the axis thereof.

lclaim:

"1. In a rail car for use in mines which comprises a generallyrectangular receptacle having a bottom panel hinged at one end thereofwhich swings downwardly to discharge the contents as the car passes overan excavated discharge station, said bottom panel carrying a rollingguide element adapted for rolling on a guide track which spans saiddischarge station so that said bottom panel swings to open and close thecar as the car passes over the discharge station, said bottom panelfurther having an axle assembly at each end thereof, each axle assemblycomprising an axle extending transversely of the car with a rail wheelat each end thereof, the improvement comprising cranking means forupwardly cranking the axle of the axle assembly at the free end of thebottom panel between the rail wheels so that the rail wheels straddlethe guide track to the extent that the guide track intersects the rotaryaxis of the rail wheels whereby a saving is effect in excavation toprovide the discharge station.

2. ln a rail car in accordance with claim 1, additional cranking meansoperatively connected to the axle of the axle assembly at the other endof said bottom panel in a manner similar to the free end.

3. In a rail car for use in mines which comprises a generallyrectangular receptacle having a bottom panel hinged at one end thereofwhich swings downwardly to discharge the contents of the car as the carpasses over an excavated discharge station, said bottom panel carrying arolling guide element adapted for rolling on a guide track which spanssaid discharge station so that the bottom panel swings to open and closeas the car passes over the discharge station, said bottom panel furtherhaving an axle assembly at each end thereof, each axle assemblycomprising an axle extending transversely of the car and having a railwheel at each end thereof; the improvement comprising a hooking andholding catch and release lever independently pivotally connected to thereceptacle at the end adjacent the free end of the bottom panel, and amember at the free end of the bottom panel around which the said catchhooks to hold the bottom panel in the closed position, said releaselever being adapted to engage a cam track operatively positioned inrelation to the discharge station such that the release lever swings andmoves the catch to release the bottom panel when the car travels in onedirection, but when the car travels in the opposite direction and therelease arm engages the cam track, it swings in the opposite directionwithout engaging and releasing the catch, said catch being spring loadedto the position in which it engages the member on the bottom panel.

1. In a rail car for use in mines which comprises a generallyrectangular receptacle having a bottom panel hinged at one end thereofwhich swings downwardly to discharge the contents as the car passes overan excavated discharge station, said bottom panel carrying a rollingguide element adapted for rolling on a guide track which spans saiddischarge station so that said bottom panel swings to open and close thecar as the car passes over the discharge station, said bottom panelfurther having an axle assembly at each end thereof, each axle assemblycomprising an axle extending transversely of the car with a rail wheelat each end thereof, the improvement comprising cranking means forupwardly cranking the axle of the axle assembly at the free end of thebottom panel between the rail wheels so that the rail wheels straddlethe guide track to the extent that the guide track intersects the rotaryaxis of the rail wheels whereby a saving is effect in excavation toprovide the discharge station.
 2. In a rail car in accordance with claim1, additional cranking means operatively connected to the axle of theaxle assembly at the other end of said bottom panel in a manner similarto the free end.
 3. In a rail car for use in mines which comprises agenerally rectangular receptacle having a bottom panel hinged at one endthereof which swings downwardly to discharge the contents of the car asthe car passes over an excavated discharge station, said bottom panelcarrying a rolling guide element adapted for rolling on a guide trackwhich spans said discharge station so that the bottom panel swings toopen and close as the car passes over the discharge station, said bottompanel further having an axle assembly at each end thereof, each axleassembly comprising an axle extending transversely of the car and havinga rail wheel at each end thereof; the improvement comprising a hookingand holding catch and release lever independently pivotally connected tothe receptacle at the end adjacent the free end of the bottom panel, anda member at the free end of the bottom panel around which the said catchhooks to hold the bottom panel in the closed position, said releaselever being adapted to engage a cam track operatively positioned inrelation to the discharge station such that the release lever swings andmoves the catch to release the bottom panel when the car travels in onedirection, but when the car travels in the opposite direction and therelease arm engages the cam track, it swings in the opposite directionwithout engaging and releasing the catch, saId catch being spring loadedto the position in which it engages the member on the bottom panel.